ORANGE JUICE

'Orange Juice' was a Scottish post punk band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976, becoming Orange Juice in 1979. The group is perhaps best known for the hit "Rip It Up", which reached number 8 on the UK singles chart in February 1983, the band's only UK Top 40 hit.

Contents

Career

Discography

Singles

Original albums

Compilation albums

References

External link

Career

The original line up was:

★ Edwyn Collins (born 23 August 1959 in Edinburgh) – guitar, vocals, songwriting

★ James Kirk – guitar, vocals, songwriting

★ David McClymont – bass

★ Steven Daly – drums
The band's first official show was on April 20, 1979 at the Victoria Cafe at the Glasgow School of Art. The band released their first singles on Postcard Records, with these singles achieving legendary status in the UK music press. Simon Reynolds ascribes their status as music media darlings, as being due to the depression following the suicide of Ian Curtis of Joy Division - music critics and indie music fans were looking for something "life-affirming" with a sense of humour.
They signed to Polydor Records for their first album ''You Can't Hide Your Love Forever.'' However, internal tensions led to this first version of the band breaking up, and for their subsequent albums the core line up was:

★ Edwyn Collins – guitar, vocals, songwriting

★ Malcolm Ross – guitar, vocals, songwriting (formerly of Josef K, latterly with Aztec Camera and Blancmange)

★ David McClymont – bass

★ Zeke Manyika (born 23 February 1955) – drums, vocals, songwriting
Musically the band attempted to fuse post-punk guitars with disco and funk rhythms, rather in the manner of the Gang of Four. (Other key influences included Buzzcocks and Subway Sect). Lyrically, however, Orange Juice were always far more commercially minded than the latter mentioned Leeds based Marxists: Collins in particular adopting a fey, camp vocal style. In general, the band was known for their love of kitsch, irony, and literate optimism. Despite this their only Top 40 hit, "Rip It Up" was achieved with the aid of the then-trendy synthesizer - in fact it was the first hit song to use the Roland TB-303, years later an essential component in Acid house music.[1]
By 1984, reduced to a duo of Collins and Manyika, they enlisted the talents of reggae record producer Dennis Bovell to record their six track EP, ''Texas Fever''.
While the group has long dispersed, members remain active in their separate and diverse fields (including travel writing). At least two greatest hits albums are available.

Discography

Singles

★ 1980 - "Falling and Laughing"

★ 1980 - "Blue Boy"

★ 1980 - "Simply Thrilled Honey"

★ 1981 - "Poor Old Soul"

★ 1981 - "Wan Light" (scheduled on Postcard Records but never pressed or released)

★ 1981 - "L.O.V.E....Love" (UK No.65)

★ 1982 - "Felicity" (UK No.63)

★ 1982 - "Two Hearts Together" (UK No.60)

★ 1982 - "I Can't Help Myself" (UK No.42)

★ 1983 - "Rip It Up" (UK No.8)

★ 1983 - "Flesh of My Flesh" (UK No.41)

★ 1984 - "Bridge" (UK No.67)

★ 1984 - "What Presence" (UK No.47)

★ 1984 - "Lean Period" (UK No.74)

Original albums

★ Mar 1982 - ''You Can't Hide Your Love Forever'' (UK No.21)

★ Nov 1982 - ''Rip It Up'' (UK No.39)

★ Mar 1984 - ''Texas Fever'' (UK No.34)

★ Nov 1984 - ''The Orange Juice''

Compilation albums

★ 1984 - ''In a Nutshell''

★ 1992 - ''The Esteemed - The Very Best of Orange Juice''

★ 1992 - ''Ostrich Churchyard'' - the long-awaited CD release of the previously unreleased debut Orange Juice album for Postcard Records (the Sound of Young Scotland), along with a Peel Session, and, on the Japanese issue, a bonus BBC Radio 1 session track, "Wan Light".

★ 1993 - ''The Heather's on Fire'' - the other long-awaited CD release by Orange Juice on Postcard Records, this collection brings the first four singles together with some more radio sessions and, on the Scottish version, a NuSonics (pre-Orange Juice) cover of the New York Dolls song 'Who Are The Mystery Girls?', sounding an awfully lot like the Ramones.

★ 2005 - ''The Glasgow School'' - a compilation of Postcard-era tracks -- named "Reissue of the Year" for 2005 by Britain's Uncut Magazine

References

★ Simon Reynolds, ''Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984''. Faber and Faber Ltd, April 2005, ISBN 0-571-21569-6 (U.S. Edition: Penguin, February 2006, ISBN 0-14-303672-6)

★ Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X

★ Guinness Book of British Hit Albums - 7th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-619-7

External link

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